Liam James Payne (born 29 August 1993) is an English singer and songwriter. He rose to fame as a member of the boy band One Direction. Payne made his debut as a singer in 2008 when he auditioned for the British television series The X Factor. After being eliminated in the competition, he auditioned again in 2010 and was put into a group with four other contestants to form One Direction. Payne worked with other producers under the monikers "Big Payno" and "Payno" creating remixes for songs by his group and Cheryl.After One Direction's hiatus, Payne signed a recording deal with Republic Records in North America. In May 2017, Payne released "Strip That Down" as the lead single from his debut album. It peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart and number ten on the US Billboard Hot 100, being certified platinum in both countries. His debut album, LP1, was released in December 2019. He has sold over 18 million singles in just two years since One Direction and over 3.9 billion career streams in that span.